Reading 0 Liverpool 0: Keeper returns to save Royals’ day

THE minute’s silence, in memory of the 96 who lost their lives at Hillsborough
24 years ago, was impeccably observed. The possibility, raised earlier in
the week, that any commemoration for a late prime minister who was in office
in 1989 might have been appropriate in a stadium where Liverpool were
playing had been quickly dispelled. “You didn’t care when you lied, we don’t
care that you died,” read one banner in the section housing away fans.

Some Liverpool loyalists sang, “Let’s all do the conga, Maggie is no longer,”
in the periods when they were not fully engaged by what would develop into a
lively goalless draw, with plenty of ebb and flow in its later stages and an
outstanding individual performance from Reading’s goalkeeper, Alex McCarthy.

The Liverpool manager, Brendan Rodgers, counted 14 shots on target by his team
and while praising the movement and enterprise that created